OK, if you’re getting sick of kayaking in Florida and looking at birds and ‘gators, just skip this post. We’ve been having so much fun kayaking around, looking at wildlife, that it’s about all I have to show.

We can attach wheels under our kayak, and move it, with all our gear, pretty easily. That’s very important at Lettuce Lake, because the Canoe/Kayak launching site is a few hundred yards from the parking places. If we’re too lazy to take the wheels back to the car (yep), we bungie them on top with all our other gear and take them with us.

It’s amazing how well many of the birds hide in plain sight. Like this Great Blue Heron among the Cypress Knees.

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When he turns he’s a little easier to spot.

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We counted 7 alligators in the water across the lake from this observation deck.

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The Limpkins seem to like hiding in shady spots, but this one posed out in the open for us.

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This trip we saw a couple of other boats. Not too crowded!

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Occasionally they try to hide just by being above everything else!

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The ‘Gators are often hidden underwater, or if we catch them on the bank, sometimes they will splash into the water and disappear.

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Upstream from Lettuce Lake is this gate. It was a little spooky going under that huge concrete and steel “Guillotine!”

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Great Blue Heron

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Roseate Spoonbill

Cormorant

Turtle

This Limpkin was just enjoying a stroll through the trees.

A flock of mostly Spoonbills

The adult Ibis are white, the immature Ibis are brown. They hang around telling bathroom jokes.

This big guy didn’t bother to move…

Here is another Osprey after a successful fishing dive. Pretty hard to catch him in flight, but at least you can see his lunch.

The video below pretty well gives the feel of kayaking on Lettuce Lake. Slow, peaceful, beautiful.

Gratzzi Italian Grille

A couple of weeks ago we went with friends Glenn and Janet to this cool restaurant in St Petersburg. They have an appetizer called “Bada Bing” that is prepared at the table. The Bada specialist starts by sautéing veggies in a pan…

Then adds a bit of Vodka…

And after burning off the alcohol, pours the veggies into this huge hollowed out Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese wheel. A new cheese wheel is roughly 100 pounds! The hot mix melts the cheese, and he uses a spoon to carve some of the sides and bottom of the cheese into the mixture. He then dished it out and we loved it!!

PS: We asked how many “wheels” of cheese they used, and he said something amazing like 18 per WEEK!